Product Heaven and Hell

2. Ernő Rubik created the first prototype of the “Magic Cube” in 1974 in Budapest, Hungary. An
American toy manufacturer bought the product license and renamed it the Rubik’s Cube in
1980, making the puzzle an international sensation. At the height of the toy’s popularity in the
mid-1980s, the company estimates that as much as one-fifth of the world’s population had tried
solving the Rubik’s Cube. With its eye-catching colors, affordability and the puzzle’s level of
difficulty, the Rubik’s Cube has maintained popularity over the years.

3. In just five years, 250 million iPhones have been shipped, making it the top-selling smartphone
to date. Research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that the iPhone has generated about $150
billion in revenue for Apple since its introduction to the market in June 2007. There are five
generations of the iPhone: the original, 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 5s and 5c and more likely ahead.
With newer generations often more popular than previous ones, Apple’s iPhone sales are
likely to continue to grow at a healthy pace.

4. The first Harry Potter book of the series was released in the United States in the 1990s, under
the name Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The book was an instant success, only to be
repeated with each successive installment. Harry Potter became the top-selling series, with sales
totalling $7.7 billion. The novels made J.K. Rowling one of the highest paid authors in the world
and led to a similarly successful movie franchise. Recently, Rowling agreed to release e-book
versions of the series, which grossed $1 million in three days. The final entry, Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows, is one of the fastest selling books of all time, with more than 11 million
copies sold in the first 24 hours of its release.

5. The character “Mario” debuted in 1981’s popular Donkey Kong franchise. Since then, the Italian
plumber has appeared in dozens of titles, including at least 31 separate titles that have topped 1
million unit sales. One of the subfranchises, Super Mario, has alone sold more than 262 million
units. While it is the most popular console video game franchise of all time, the Angry Birds
mobile franchise, which creates phone and tablet application games, has recorded more than a
billion downloads.

6. George Lucas’s Star Wars. The original movie debuted in 1977, grossing more than $1.4 billion.
With the five films that followed, ending with Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the franchise
grossed $4.54 billion.
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7. Cosmopolitan has 58 international editions, is published in 36 languages and is distributed in
more than 100 countries, making it one of the most dynamic brands on the planet. You
could say it's got this "magazine thing" down pat. All the more reason why it should stick to
what it does best. One thing Cosmo does not do best is brand and sell yogurt. Yes, yogurt.
From the time of its release, the yogurt was supposedly off of the shelves in 18 months.

8. Colgate - Colgate Kitchen Entrees For reasons that have never been fully explained, Colgate, the
brand most famously known for its toothpaste, briefly launched a line of frozen dinners
called Colgate Kitchen Entrees. However, the general public could not get past the association of
the brand with Colgate toothpaste and the products were quickly pulled from production.

9. Rocky Mountain Spring Water if you're one of the most popular beer brands in the world, it's a
pretty safe bet that even your most loyal consumers would not be interested in buying bottled
water from you. Case in point -- Coors Rocky Mountain Spring Water. Spring water from the
Rocky Mountains is indeed used during the brewing process of some Coors products. However,
when bottled alone, it's missing one key ingredient -- alcohol. Apparently Coors customers just
weren't that into buying water when it wasn't enhanced by additional ingredients like barley
and yeast.

10. Cocaine is a high-energy drink, containing three and a half times the amount of caffeine as
Red Bull. It was pulled from U.S. shelves in 2007, after the FDA declared that its producers,
Redux Beverages, were "illegally marketing their drink as an alternative to street drugs." The
drink is still available, however, online, in Europe and even in select stores in the U.S. Despite
the controversy, Redux Beverages does not plan to cease production any time soon. You know
what they say -- there's no such thing as bad publicity.

11. In the 1970s and early 80s, Coke began to face stiff competition from other soft drink producers.
To remain in the number one spot, Coke executives decided to cease production on the classic
cola in favor of New Coke. The public was outraged, and Coca-Cola was forced to re-launch its
original formula almost immediately. Lesson learned -- don't mess with success.